Most people, when they think of the civil service, probably think of fictional characters: Yes Minister's stuffy Sir Humphrey or, more recently, In the Loop's ferocious Malcolm Tucker.

Cast those stereotypes aside. Being a graduate recruit in the civil service need not mean haunting the corridors of Whitehall. There are many other possibilities for those with skills beyond spin, including those grounded in law, economics, operational research or even secret intelligence.

Securing a job in the civil service has a number of advantages, the most obvious being job security, a public-sector pension and good training and career development. But those inside the civil service would probably add that the intellectual challenge and working for the public good are equally important. The civil service also has a commitment to diversity and equality, which means it generally supports flexible working arrangements, something that may not seem so important to graduates at the start of their career, but which is likely to become increasingly valuable over the course of their working life.

Matching industry

In the past, the trade-off for these advantages has been a generally lower pay scale than in industry, but this has changed in recent years. Senior managers in the civil service now command relatively high salaries and, in many cases, bonuses.

The best-known route for graduates into the civil service is the fast-stream programme. This has a well-deserved reputation for being the high-flyer route into senior managerial posts in the civil service and, as a result, is fiercely competitive for the 500 fast-stream places each year. In 2007, there were 13,619 applicants.

There are five separate schemes within the fast-stream programme. The largest and best-known is the fast stream itself, which places applicants in central government departments, the diplomatic service, and science and engineering departments, as well as offering clerkships in parliament. But there are other, more specialised, schemes for graduates, such as those for economists and statisticians or for positions in GCHQ, the government's centre for secret intelligence activity. There is also a relatively new scheme, started in 2007, called technology in business, which is part of the Cabinet Office's aim to improve the level of IT skills in government.

All these schemes involve some level of professional aptitude, but graduates are assessed in a similar way to those entering the main fast-stream programme. For instance, explains Rhonda Calder, the head of fast-stream marketing at the Cabinet Office, graduates do not have to have studied IT to apply for the Technology in Business scheme, but they do need to be interested in applying technology to large and complex projects. Even specialists such as economists and statisticians need that wider view of how to apply their qualifications, she points out. "It's about problem-solving and evidence-based policy-making," comments Calder. "When you go into a government department, what you actually do in each scheme varies hugely. There is no typical fast-stream job; every experience is varied and challenging. Applicants have to think technically, but they also need to effectively communicate some very complex issues."

Economic sense

Andy Ross, deputy director of the Government Economic Service (GES), the largest single employer of economists in the UK, says those joining the service through the fast stream can expect to have a direct involvement in making decisions that will have a real impact on people's lives, with rapid progress to positions of responsibility. "The advantages of working for the GES are varied work and becoming a better economist by virtue of putting your economics knowledge into practice," he says. "That said, equal importance is given to acquiring skills in personal effectiveness, leading and managing others, finance and project management and communication."

Hitesh Patel, an assistant economist at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), says he was attracted to the civil service by the prospect of working in social policy. "I did investigate other routes, but my area of interest is applied economics and social policy, so I was fortunate to end up in the DWP," he says.

As for those who want to know more about the secret work of the government, both MI5, which runs intelligence work in this country, and MI6, which does the same job overseas, run graduate-recruitment programmes. Three-fifths of staff hired this year by GCHQ will be graduates, since the service is heavily dependent on highly qualified people with skills in IT, engineering, mathematics, analysis, languages and information management.